IMPRESSIONS 


ON 


PAINTING 


BY 

ALFRED  STEVENS 

TRANSLATED,  WITH 
THE  AUTHOR’S  PER^ 

MISSION,  BY  ...  . 

CHARLOTTE  ADAMS 


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GEORGE  J.  COOMBES 

No.  275  Fifth  Avenue 
MDCCCLXXXVI 


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IMPRESSIONS 

ON 

PAINTING 


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IMPRESSIONS 


ON 

PAINTING 


ALFRED  STEVENS 

TRANSLATED,  WITH 
THE  AUTHOR’S  PER- 
MISSION, BY  ...  . 

CHARLOTTE  ADAMS 


NEW  YORK 

GEORGE  J.  COOMBES 

No.  275  Fifth  Avenue 
MDCCCLXXXVI 


Copyright,  1886,  by 
George  J.  Coombes 


INTRODUCTION 


TO  THE 

AMERICAN  EDITION 


AM  pleased  to  see  my  “ Impressions 
on  Painting ” translated  for  an 
American  edition,  because  I have 
faith  in  the  future  of  art  in 
America,  as  I have  already  said  in  this  book . 

I know  the  works  of  the  American painters 
only  through  reproductions,  often  unfaithful. 
I have  had,  however,  the  opportunity  of  see- 
ing, and  of  becoming  acquainted  with,  the 
original  productions  of  some  of  the  artists 
of  the  United  States  who  have  studied  in 
Europe,  and  I am  convinced  that  not  a few 
of  them  have  imdoubted  talent. 

Connaisseurs  have  especially  remarked  at 
the  Paris  Salon  of  this  year  the  contribu- 
tions of  Young  America. 

The  illustrators  of  the  United  States, 
artists  of  the  first  rank,  particularly  deserve 


VI 


INTRODUCTION 


to  fix  our  attention , by  their  initiative  and 
the  surejiess  of  their  inventive  faculty . 

François  Millet  was  already  appreciated 
at  his  proper  value  across  the  Atlantic  when 
he  was  still  unrecognised  among  us,  for  the 
elementary  reason  that  a man  is  not  a prophet 
in  his  own  country.  The  new  world,  in  love 
with  our  art,  has  purchased  at  high  prices 
the  masterpieces  of  the  present  epoch. 

It  is  America  that  regulates  prices  in  the 
European  picture  market.  It  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  artistic  knowledge  does  not  al- 
ways preside  at  these  purchases  ; but  I hasten 
to  add  that  lovers  of  art  for  art's  sake,  infal- 
lible afpreciators,  are  rare  in  all  latitudes. 
A true  appreciation  of  the  beautiful  is  not 
within  range  of  every  one. 


ALFRED  S TE  VENS. 


ALFRED  STEVENS 


E name  “Alfred  Stevens” 
carries  with  it  associations  of 
peculiar  grace  and  elegance 
in  modern  art.  All  Americans  who 
know  the  picture  world  of  Paris  or 
Belgium,  either  through  travel  or  from 
exhibitions  in  this  country,  can  at  once 
identify  this  name  with  groups  of 
lovely  women  and  children,  executed 
with  an  admirable  technique  and  bear- 
ing the  stamp  of  unusual  refinement 
and  distinction. 

M.  Stevens  belongs  both  to  France 
and  to  Belgium.  Born  at  Brussels  in 
1828,  the  son  of  an  ex-cavalry  officer, 
his  early  training  gave  him  the  liter- 
ary bias  proper  to  Belgian  art,  and  his 
first  pictures  show  the  influence  of  the 
Belgian  school.  His  later  works  pro- 
claim him  a Frenchman  of  the  most 


ALFRED  STEVENS 


viii 


modem  school,  in  technique  and 
artistic  thought. 

The  elder  Stevens  was  a collector 
of  pictures  and  one  of  the  first  appre- 
ciators  of  the  works  of  Eugène  Dela- 
croix, which  he  purchased  at  a time 
when  this  great  artist  was  scarcely  rec- 
ognized by  the  public.  Who  can  tell 
what  influence  may  have  been  exer- 
cised on  the  son  by  the  father’s  admi- 
ration for  a painter  placed  by  the 
French  art  estimates  of  to-day  among 
the  great  masters  of  the  century  ? De- 
lacroix was  the  painter  of  eclectics. 
That  M.  Stevens  loves  Delacroix  is 
evident  from  the  special  mention  of 
him  made  in  the  “ Impressions.” 

The  mother  of  M.  Stevens  was  pos- 
sessed of  more  than  ordinary  knowl- 
edge of  art.  It  is  not  strange,  then, 
that,  born  and  bred  among  such  influ- 
ences, Alfred  Stevens  and  his  brothers 
should  early  have  embraced  artistic 
professions.  M.  Joseph  Stevens  is  a 
distinguished  animal  painter  at  Brus- 


ALFRED  STEVENS 


IX 


sels,  and  M.  Arthur  Stevens  is  widely 
known  as  an  art  critic  and  the  curator 
of  the  gallery  of  the  King  of  Belgium. 

M.  Alfred  Stevens  went  to  Paris 
when  seventeen  years  old.  He  stud- 
ied under  Camille  Roqueplan  and  at 
the  Ecole  des  Beaux  Arts  ; but  he  was 
his  own  best  teacher.  He  first  exhib- 
ited in  1853,  and  his  picture,  “La 
Descente  de  la  Courtille,”  which  re- 
ceived a medal,  was  purchased  by  the 
Museum  of  Marseilles. 

What  is  particularly  noticeable  in 
the  “ Impressions  ” of  M.  Stevens  is 
their  contemporaneousness — their  ap- 
preciation of  the  world  of  to-day,  val- 
ued as  artistic  material — their  abound- 
ing sense  of  actuality.  Such  was  the 
bias  of  the  painter  from  the  outset  of 
his  career.  He  is  and  has  always 
been,  in  feeling,  a modern  of  the  mod- 
erns. He  has  always  had  this  fond- 
ness for  his  own  time,  this  “ love  of 
modernity,”  as  he  himself  expresses 
it.  But,  as  a young  man,  in  order 


X 


ALFRED  STEVENS 


to  live  at  all  he  was  forced  to  paint 
subjects  of  the  period  of  Charles  IX., 
for  at  that  time  the  public  toler- 
ated none  but  pictures  representing  a 
past  epoch.  The  influence  of  French 
literary  romanticism  was  then  strongly 
felt  in  art. 

M.  Stevens  suffered  keenly  from 
the  tyranny  of  custom,  but  he  freed 
himself  from  it  as  soon  as  possible. 
It  is  not  singular  that  in  his  “ Im- 
pressions ” he  should  deal  well-aimed 
blows  at  the  academic,  the  pseudo- 
historical  and  the  conventional.  He 
presently  came  before  the  public  as  a 
painter  of  every-day  life  and  scenes. 
The  strong  human  sentiment  of  Bel- 
gian art,  the  elegance  of  the  Paris 
world  of  fashion  and  a certain  per- 
sonal tenderness  of  feeling  soon  gave 
to  his  pictures  an  individual  position 
in  modern  art.  He  stands  by  himself 
in  the  French  art  system,  as  well  as  in 
that  of  Belgium. 

It  is  with  the  later  works  of  M. 


ALFRED  STEVENS 


XI 


Stevens  that  we  in  America  are  most 
concerned,  partly  because  we  have 
more  of  them  among  us,  partly  be- 
cause they  represent  the  worthiest 
results  of  his  years  of  labor,  and 
partly  because  they  best  illustrate  the 
ideas  and  theories  which  sparkle  in 
epigrammatic  brilliancy  on  the  pages 
of  the  “ Impressions.”  Many  of  his 
pictures  are  owned  by  collectors  of 
New  York  and  of  other  cities  in  the 
United  States.  The  museums  of 
Brussels,  Antwerp,  Paris  and  London 
contain  important  examples  of  the 
master.  The  high  esteem  in  which  his 
work  is  held  by  painters  is  attested 
by  the  fact  that  much  of  it  is  bought 
by  the  younger  French  artists. 

Alfred  Stevens  is  preeminently  a 
painter  for  painters.  He  is  an  im- 
pressionist in  the  highest  artistic  sense 
of  the  term.  His  impressionism  is  of 
the  kind  that,  while  accepting  life  as 
it  is,  strives  for  beauty  and  not  for 
ugliness.  Repose,  grace,  loveliness, 


Xll 


ALFRED  STEVENS 


moral  and  mental  harmony,  are  the 
elements  of  the  ethical  side  of  his  art. 

As  a painter  of  women  this  artist 
might  well  be  called  the  Balzac  of  the 
brush,  for  his  tender  and  gracious 
rendering  of  the  subtle  beauties  of 
the  modern  woman — and  especially 
the  Frenchwoman  of  fashion.  One 
breathes  in  his  compositions  the  at- 
mosphere of  the  grand  monde  on  its 
most  exquisite,  feminine  side.  He 
enjoys  the  distinction  of  having  been 
the  first  painter  to  find  his  subjects  in 
Parisian  society.  He  was,  too,  prob- 
ably the  first  of  the  Paris  artists 
to  feel  the  mysterious  fascination  of 
Japanese  art.  His  sympathy  with  it 
is  very  great  and  he  has  assimilated 
much  of  its  delicate  decorative  quality. 

M.  Stevens  is  a poet  on  canvas. 
He  loves  women,  children,  flowers, 
light,  air  and  the  sea.  He  has  met 
with  much  success  as  a marine  painter, 
and  it  is  the  suave,  smiling  aspect  of 
the  ocean  that  pleases  him  best.  He 


ALFRED  STEVENS 


Xlll 


loves  effects  of  moonlight  ; he  loves — 
as  he  himself  says — this  “ planet  which 
seems  to  have  suffered,  which  poetises 
everything  ! ” 

M.  Stevens  leads  in  his  home  at 
Paris  the  simple  life  of  a worker  and 
of  one  in  love  with  his  art.  He  lives 
in  the  midst  of  a famous  group  of 
artists  and  men  of  letters.  He  has 
known  all  the  great  men  of  the  century 
in  Paris  art  and  literature — Corot, 
Millet,  Delacroix,  who,  together  with 
Alexandre  Dumas,  fils,  was  a witness 
of  his  marriage,  Ingres,  Rousseau, 
Troyon,  Diaz,  Couture,  Victor  Hugo, 
Dumas,  père,  and  many  others,  now 
numbered  with  the  dead.  He  counts 
among  his  friends  and  acquaintances 
all  the  distinguished  literary  men  of 
the  day,  from  Zola  and  Daudet  down  ; 
and  all  the  artists,  from  Meissonier  to 
the  youngest  members  of  the  painter 
guild. 

The  “Impressions  on  Painting” 
not  only  form  a complete  exposition 


XIV 


ALFRED  STEVENS 


of  the  artistic  creed  of  Alfred  Stevens, 
but  they  represent  the  most  modern 
and  advanced  side  of  French  art,  free 
from  its  diseases  and  exaggerations. 
They  appeal  particularly  to  our  own 
young  painters  and  art  students,  as 
well  as  to  all  among  us  who  are  inter- 
ested in  “ art  for  art’s  sake.” 

Charlotte  Adams. 


New  York,  August  9,  1886. 


HAVE  often,  in  familiar 
conversations,  attributed  to 
painters  of  greater  age  or 
authority  than  myself  various  reflec- 
tions on  art,  in  order  to  cause  them 
to  be  accepted  more  easily.  While  I 
do  not  attach  more  importance  than 
they  deserve  to  improvisations  of  this 
kind,  I have  determined,  acting  on 
the  advice  of  my  professional  friends, 
to  now  acknowledge  their  paternity. 

I dedicate  these  thoughts  to  the 
memory  of  Corot,  in  testimony  of 
my  admiration  for  that  great  artist, 
the  most  modern  of  nineteenth  cen- 
tury painters. 


IMPRESSIONS 


ON 

PAINTING 


I 

MAN  should  bear  the  marks 
of  his  time  and  of  his  early 
education  ; he  should  be  sub- 
ject to  the  influence  of  the  sun  be- 
neath which  and  of  the  country  in 
which  he  lives. 

II 

It  is  not  until  a certain  period  of 
life  that  a man  rightly  understands  his 
art. 

III 

In  painting,  there  are  no  phe- 
nomena; prodigies  like  Pascal,  Mo- 
zart, Pic  de  la  Mirandole,  etc.,  do 
not  exist  in  our  art. 


2 


IMPRESSIONS 


IV 

The  student  should  learn  to  draw, 
as  much  as  possible,  with  his  brush. 

v 

There  is  no  fine  picture  without 
fine  color. 


VI 

The  greatness  of  a work  is  not  to 
be  measured  by  its  dimensions. 

VII 

Great  workers  must  not  be  con- 
founded with  mere  drudges. 

VIII 

Every  colorist  is  a lover  of  music. 


IX 

The  painter  who,  in  the  matter  of 
art,  believes  himself  a god,  displays 
his  weakness. 


ON  PAINTING 


3 


X 

Success  too  generally  acclaimed 
belongs  oftenest  to  mediocrity. 

XI 

It  is  better  to  give  a nail’s  breadth 
of  one’s  self  than  an  arm’s  length  of 
what  belongs  to  others. 

XII 

In  painting,  everything  is  contrast, 
color  as  well  as  drawing. 

XIII 

A painter  is  only  great  when  he  is 
a master-workman. 

XIV 

Execution  is  the  painter’s  style. 

XV 

In  painting,  one  can  dispense  with 
a so-called  “ subject.”  A picture 
ought  not  to  need  a literary  descrip- 
tion. 


4 


IMPRESSIONS 


XVI 

All  imaginative  subjects,  all  ca- 
prices of  the  brain,  are  permitted  to 
genius.  With  the  painter  of  nature 
there  is  only  the  true. 

XVII 

There  are  talents  which  give  offence 
because  they  appear  to  be  saying, 
“ Behold  us  !” 


XVIII 

The  minor  Dutch  masters  cause 
their  faults  to  be  pardoned  because 
they  always  seem  to  say,  “ I have 
done  my  best  ! Would  that  it  were 
better  !” 

XIX 

One  should  formulate  aesthetically 
and  not  imitate  servilely. 

xx 

A painter,  however  mediocre,  who 
has  depicted  the  era  in  which  he  lives 


ON  PAINTING 


5 


will  become  more  interesting  in  time 
than  he  who,  having  more  talent, 
portrays  an  epoch  he  has  never  seen. 

XXI 

Fashionable  costumes  cause  a smile 
as  soon  as  they  are  out  of  date.  Time 
alone  gives  them  back  their  character. 
The  “mignons”  of  Henri  III.,  who 
interest  us,  must  have  become  ridicu- 
lous under  Henri  IV. 

XXII 

In  modernity,  the  manner  of  social 
elegance  is  that  which  excites  most 
criticism. 

XXIII 

If  you  paint  a blonde  and  the  buy- 
er’s wife  be  a brunette,  your  picture 
runs  the  risk  of  hanging  a long  time 
in  your  studio. 

XXIV 

Maturity  is  more  difficult  to  paint 
than  childhood  or  old  age. 


6 


IMPRESSIONS 


XXV 

A bust  of  Donatello  is  as  eloquent 
as  the  Moses  of  Michael  Angelo. 


XXVI 

The  “ Victory  ” of  Samothrace,  in 
the  Louvre,  without  a head  and  with- 
out arms,  is  quite  as  heroic  as  the 
bas-relief  by  Rude  on  the  Arc  de 
Triomphe. 

XXVII 

I would  rather  have  painted  four 
bladders  and  a palette,  as  did  Chardin, 
than  the  Entrance  of  Alexander  into 
Babylon  of  Lebrun,  the  official  painter 
of  Louis  XIV. 


XXVIII 

The  admiration  inspired  by  tricky 
painters  is  fleeting. 

XXIX 

A painter  should  not  live  on  his 
memories  ; he  should  paint  what  he 
sees,  what  has  just  affected  him. 


ON  PAINTING 


7 


XXX 

The  higher  one  rises  in  art,  the  less 
is  one  understood. 

XXXI 

Our  epoch  has  a tendency  to  return 
to  the  early  painters  and  to  forsake 
the  complex  masters. 

XXXII 

The  more  beautiful  and  distingué 
the  subject,  the  more  difficult  it  is  to 
paint. 

XXXIII 

Once  the  painter  has  a great  artistic 
soul,  the  tortoise  becomes  as  interest- 
ing as  the  horse,  much  more  difficult 
to  execute,  the  soul  of  the  painter 
giving  its  imprint  to  everything. 

xxxiv 

There  should  be  no  haste  in  the 
erection  of  a statue  to  a man.  Neither 
should  we  hasten  to  introduce  our 


8 


I M P RESS  I O NS 


masters  into  the  Louvre.  Time  alone 
is  an  infallible  classifier. 

XXXV 

In  pictures  of  animals,  the  cow  and 
the  sheep  have  always  brought  higher 
prices  than  the  horse.  They  are  liked 
in  general,  without  being  studied. 
The  horse  finds  connaisseurs  and  crit- 
ics where  art  has  very  little  to  see. 

XXXVI 

Paint  a woman  of  a bygone  age  and 
the  public  and  the  artists  themselves 
will  have  an  indulgence  for  your  pic- 
ture which  they  would  not  have  for  a 
modern  figure. 


XXXVII 

One  does  not  judge  a picture  justly 
until  ten  years  after  its  execution. 

XXXVIII 

Easel  painting  is  the  most  difficult 
to  execute. 


ON  PAINTING 


9 


XXXIX 

A painter  is  constantly  at  work, 
even  outside  of  his  studio. 

XL 

Our  century  counts  more  great 
painters  of  landscape  than  of  the 
figure. 

XLI 

Talent  being  equal,  the  figure 
painter  is  superior  to  him  who  follows 
all  the  other  branches. 

XLII 

Painters  depicting  their  own  time 
become  historians. 

XLIII 

It  is  more  difficult  to  put  atmos- 
phere into  an  interior  than  to  paint 
open  air. 

XLIV 

Géricault  was  strongly  influenced 
by  his  time  and  only  related  what  he 


10 


IMPRESSIONS 


saw.  He  therefore  spoke  before 
Courbet. 

XLV 

The  old  masters  rarely  painted  an 
epoch  other  than  their  own.  The 
Bible  is  the  history  of  the  human 
heart,  and  they  nearly  always  inter- 
preted the  subjects  with  the  costumes 
of  their  own  time. 

XLVI 

The  more  one  knows,  the  more  one 
simplifies. 

XLVII 

Woe  be  to  the  painter  who  obtains 
only  the  approbation  of  women  ! 

XLVIII 

One  should  know  how  to  paint  a 
moustache  hair  by  hair  before  allow- 
ing himself  to  execute  it  with  a single 
stroke  of  the  brush. 

XLIX 

How  many  young  painters  put  the 
cart  before  the  horse  ! 


ON  PAINTING 


II 


L 

One  can  judge  of  the  sentiment  of 
an  artist  by  a flower  he  has  painted. 

LI 

The  painter  who  does  not  know 
how  to  “ detach  ” a lemon  on  a 
Japanese  plate,  is  not  a delicate  col- 
orist. 


LII 

A man’s  hand  has  the  same  ex- 
pression as  his  face. 

LIU 

What  has  been  quickly  done  is 
quickly  seen,  unless  the  dexterity  be 
the  result  of  long  and  conscientious 
studies. 


LIV 

Painters  who,  in  spite  of  their  tal- 
ent, no  longer  make  use  of  nature, 
disquiet  me  as  to  their  future. 


2 


IMPRESSIONS 


LV 

They  will  end  by  wearying  the 
public  through  the  abuse  of  exhibi- 
tions. 

LVI 

The  faculties  are  not  artistic  quali- 
ties. 


LVI  I 

In  painting,  it  is  an  art  to  know 
when  to  stop. 


LVI  1 1 

The  ignorant  man  always  desires 
to  make  a great  display  of  knowl- 
edge. 

LIX 

If  one  has  unexpectedly  done  well, 
he  may  attribute  his  success  to  the 
effect  of  his  previous  study. 

LX 

In  a portrait,  it  is  better  to  let  the 


ON  PAINTING 


13 


sitter  take  an  habitual  pose  than  to 
strive  for  effect  by  an  unusual  one. 

lx  I 

Art  criticism  has  a tendency  to 
occupy  itself  more  with  the  literary 
than  with  the  technical  side. 

LXII 

Laboriously  painted  pictures,  in 
which  hard  work  is  visible,  please  the 
public  ; it  gets  its  money’s  worth. 

LXIII 

In  the  art  of  painting,  one  must  be 
a painter  before  all  ; the  thinker 
comes  later. 

LXIV 

A picture,  like  a pretty  woman, 
needs  dress. 

LXV 

Every  painter,  however  bad  he  may 
be,  has  his  little  public,  and  is  satis- 
fied with  it. 


14 


IMPRESSIONS 


LXVI 

Before  thinking  of  pleasing  the 
public,  one  should  be  satisfied  with 
himself. 

LXVI  I 

An  artist  should  first  of  all  be  a 
painter,  and  the  greatest  and  finest 
“ compositions  ” in  the  world  are  not 
worth  a good  bit  of  technique. 

LXVIII 

Géricault,  with  a single  figure,  de- 
picts the  whole  army  of  the  First 
Empire. 

LXIX 

A smile  is  more  difficult  to  render 
than  tears. 

LXX 

An  old 'Woman  is  easier  to  paint 
than  a young  girl. 

LXXI 

It  is  not  necessary  to  go  to  the 


ON  PAINTING 


15 


East  to  look  for  light  and  for  pictur- 
esque motives.  To  the  penetrating 
painter  everything  everywhere  is 
beautiful. 


LXXII 

The  artist  prefers  painting  a blonde, 
because  her  hair  blends  more  har- 
moniously with  the  skin  than  does  the 
hair  of  a brunette. 

LXXIII 

A picture  ought  not,  as  is  vul- 
garly said,  to  stand  out  of  the 
frame  ; it  is  the  reverse  that  should 
be  said. 


LXXIV 

The  artist  in  his  maturity  should 
have  his  convictions,  but  he  should 
nevertheless  wrap  himself  in  pious 
meditation  before  his  easel.  The 
early  masters  undoubtedly  made  the 
sign  of  the  cross  before  painting. 


6 


IMPRESSIONS 


LX  XV 

The  Gioconda  would  have  less  suc- 
cess to-day  than  any  battle. 

LXXVI 

The  nude  is  the  great  difficulty  of 
art,  and  the  man  is  more  difficult  to 
execute  than  the  woman. 

LXXVII 

An  old  slipper  is  more  picturesque 
than  the  dancing  shoe  of  a man  of 
fashion. 

LXXVIII 

Before  a fragment  of  a destroyed 
work  one  ought  to  be  able  to  say  with 
certainty  what  masterpiece  it  is  and 
to  what  masterpiece  it  belonged. 

LXXIX 

Some  great  geniuses  have  felt  the 
need  of  expending  their  strength  rap- 
idly, and  in  order  to  go  faster,  have 
adopted  certain  formulas.  They  are 


ON  PAINTING 


1 7 


less  instructive  than  those  who  have 
interested  themselves  more  directly 
in  nature. 

LXXX 

The  masterpiece  of  God  is  the 
human  face.  The  glance  of  a woman 
has  more  charm  than  the  most  beau- 
tiful horizon,  and  more  attraction 
than  a ray  of  sunlight. 

LXXXI 

Before  admiring  a still-life,  one 
must  see  if  the  painter  has  known 
how  to  treat  the  ground  of  his  pic- 
ture. 

LXXXII 

In  France  fashion  leads  everything. 
Even  in  painting  there  are  fashion- 
able tones. 

LXXXIII 

Art  is  made  for  the  fastidious  and 
passes  over  the  heads  of  the  vulgar. 
If  it  were  not  for  this,  it  would  no 
longer  be  art. 


i8 


IMPRESSIONS 


LXXXIV 

Those  artists  who  were  but  lately- 
doubted  are  no  better  understood 
to-day  than  before  ; but,  as  specula- 
tion has  adopted  them  and  held  them 
up  to  view,  the  sheep  of  Panurge 
flock  after  them. 

LXXXV 

The  great  artists  doubted  by  their 
contemporaries  always  had  some  dis- 
ciples who  cheered  them  in  their 
hours  of  vexation. 

LXXXVI 

The  opinion  of  a connaisseur  is 
more  flattering  than  the  commenda- 
tion of  the  ignorant. 

LXXXVII 

The  arrangement  of  our  little  apart- 
ments demands  light  and  luminous 
painting. 


ON  PAINTING 


19 


LXXXVIII 

A man  is  not  vigorous  because  he 
is  violent. 

LXXXIX 

It  is  more  difficult  to  remain  vigor- 
ous in  executing  warm-toned,  trans- 
parent painting  than  in  employing 
intense  tones. 

\ XC 

Time  renders  sound  painting  more 
beautiful  and  debases  the  bad. 

XCI 

Bad  painting  cracks  in  the  form  of 
the  sun;  good  painting  becomes  a 
fine  crackle. 

XCII 

Flies  do  not  restrain  themselves 
with  regard  to  bad  painting  ; they  re- 
spect good.  Strange  ! 


§ 


20 


IMPRESSIONS 


XCIII 

The  specialist  who  puts  the  per- 
spective into  your  picture  mars  it. 

XCIV 

Without  faith,  one  should  not  at- 
tempt religious  painting. 

xcv 

In  general,  great  colorists  are  born 
by  the  sea. 

XCVI 

True  artists  have  a preference  for 
ugly  beauties. 

xcvn 

The  Museum  at  Versailles  is  an 
artistic  mystification. 

XCVIII 

Although  the  sun  gives  life  to 
color,  it  is  brutal  at  high  noon,  and 
becomes  an  anti-colorist. 


ON  PAINTING 


21 


XCIX 

The  moon  beautifies  everything. 
It  lends  accent  to  sterile  landscapes 
that  the  sun  itself  is  powerless  to 
animate,  because  it  suppresses  details 
and  gives  value  only  to  the  mass. 

C 

The  historical  subject  was  invented 
the  day  that  people  were  no  longer 
interested  in  painting  itself. 

Cl 

Japanese  art  is  a powerful  element 
of  modernity. 

CII 

The  Japanese  have  better  rendered 
all  the  manifestations  of  the  sun  and 
moon  than  the  ancient  or  modern 
masters. 

cm 

The  Japanese  have  made  us  under- 
stand that  nothing  in  nature  is  to  be 


22 


IMPRESSIONS 


disdained,  and  that  an  ant  is  as  well 
constructed  as  a horse. 

CIV 

In  Japanese  art  all  is  love,  from  the 
blade  of  grass  to  the  divinity. 

cv 

The  Japanese  are  true  impression- 
ists. 

CVI 

If  one  paints  a peasant  woman,  one 
performs  the  act  of  a thinker  ; but 
if  one  paints  a woman  of  society,  one 
is  held  to  perform  an  act  of  fashion. 
Why?  A woman  of  society  has 
nevertheless  looked  at  the  sky  oftener 
than  a peasant  woman. 

CVII 

Without  ever  dispensing  with  na- 
ture, at  a given  moment  the  painter 
should  no  longer  allow  himself  to  be 
dominated  by  her. 


ON  PAINTING 


23 


CVIII 

The  invention  of  photography  has 
made  a revolution  in  art  quite  as 
great  as  that  which  the  invention  of 
railroads  made  in  industry. 

CIX 

Photography  proves  to  us  that  art 
is  much  superior  to  this  admirable 
invention  ; even  if  it  found  color,  it 
would  still  be  inferior  to  painting. 

cx 

In  looking  at  a picture,  one  ought 
not  to  have  to  suspect  the  artist  of 
having  called  photography  to  his  aid. 

CXI 

Independence  gives  audacity  to  the 
artist. 

CXII 

A commission  for  a picture  is  al- 


24 


IMPRESSIONS 


most  corrupting  to  the  artist,  since  it 
injures  his  originality  of  impulse. 

CXIII 

One  commits  an  act  of  bad  faith  in 
having  a model  pose  for  the  hands  of 
a portrait. 

CXIV 

In  studios,  the  pupils  drawing  from 
models  succeed  better  with  the  back 
view  of  the  academic  figure  than  with 
the  front. 

CXV 

A man  is  not  a modernist  because 
he  paints  modern  costumes.  The 
artist  in  love  with  modernity  should, 
first  of  all,  be  impregnated  with  mod- 
ern sensations. 


cxvi 

All  the  masters  have  painted  the 
Virgin  and  the  Infant  Jesus.  It  is 
always  a mother  and  her  son,  and 


ON  PAINTING 


25 


this  will  be  an  admirable  subject  to 
all  eternity. 


CXVII 

Masterpieces  are  generally  simple. 
A figure,  a torso  suffice  to  reveal  a 
master. 

CXVIII 

A great  artist  is  generally  a good 
critic,  because  he  penetrates  best  into 
the  arcana  of  things. 

cxix 

Why  are  there  so  many  artists  who 
wear  the  blouse  all  the  year,  only  to 
put  on  the  dress  coat  when  it  becomes 
a question  of  exhibiting  at  the  Salon  ? 

cxx 

As  long  as  an  artist  has  not  ob- 
tained a recompense  he  thinks  of 
Peter  and  Paul  ; but  from  the  day  he 
is  recompensed  he  most  frequently 
believes  himself  to  be  somebody,  for- 


2 6 


IMPRESSIONS 


gets  Peter  and  Paul,  and  is  no  longer 
anybody. 

CXXI 

The  masters  of  all  countries  and  of 
all  ages  have  practiced  portrait  paint- 
ing, which  is  perhaps  the  finest  of  all 
kinds. 


CXXII 

The  Frenchman  prefers  the  picture 
which  he  can  complete  with  his 
thought. 


CXXIII 

The  painter  should  try  to  express 
himself  in  his  work,  and  should  do  it 
with  sincerity. 


CXXIV 

The  painter  who  always  paints  the 
same  picture  pleases  the  public,  for  the 
sole  reason  that  the  latter  recognises 
it  easily,  and  considers  itself  a con- 


naisseur. 


ON  PAINTING 


27 


cxxv 

Art  is  aristocratic.  The  alphabetical 
list  adopted  for  the  classification  of 
the  Salon,  for  the  love  of  democratic 
equality,  is  an  outrage  upon  the  le- 
gitimate prerogatives  of  talent. 

CXXVI 

Draughtsmen,  like  colorists,  are 
born,  not  made. 

CXXVII 

There  should  be  exhibitions  every 
five  years,  where  each  artist  should 
exhibit  but  a single  figure,  expressing 
nothing. 

CXXVIII 

At  the  Salon  the  restless  red-tails 
raise  their  voices,  crying  : “ Come  this 
way  ; then  you  shall  see  what  you  shall 
see  !”  Art  counts  for  nothing  therein. 

cxxix 

A spark  of  light,  placed  on  an  ac- 


28 


IMPRESSIONS 


cessory  by  a Dutch  or  Flemish  master, 
is  more  than  an  able  touch  of  the 
brush — it  is  a stroke  of  intellect. 

cxxx 

A foreshortening,  a violent  move- 
ment, are  easier  to  draw  than  a simple 
and  quiet  movement. 

CXXXI 

An  artist  strikes  his  note  at  the 
outset. 

CXXXII 

The  most  interesting  subjects  are 
those  which  one  can  examine  in  all 
conditions  of  mind  and  heart. 

CXXXIII 

Since  the  jury  of  the  Salon  has 
systematically  rejected  the  works  of 
painters  who  have  become  great  mas- 
ters, like  Rousseau,  Delacroix,  Millet, 
painters  whose  works  are  justly  re- 


ON  PAINTING 


29 


fused  now  make  use  of  these  great 
names  to  excuse  their  defeat. 

CXXXIV 

Fine  decorative  art  is  too  much 
confounded  with  theatrical  and  com- 
monplace decoration. 

cxxxv 

One  should  not  enter  the  Louvre 
except  he  say  to  himself  : “ To-day 
I shall  look  at  but  five  or  six  great 
masters!  ” 

CXXXVI 

Nothing  is  as  useful  as  comparison. 

CXXXVII 

By  looking  at  the  palette  of  a 
painter,  one  knows  with  whom  one  is 
dealing. 

CXXXVIII 

In  our  days  talent  runs  about  the 
streets,  but  genius  is  rarer  than  ever. 


30 


IMPRESSIONS 


CXXXIX 

The  physique  has  its  predestina- 
tions. A badly  constructed  being  has 
never  arrived  at  the  mastery  in  the 
plastic  arts. 


CXL 

Woman  easily  assimilates  pictorial 
qualities,  but  she  also  stops  with  the 
same  facility  as  soon  as  it  comes  to  a 
question  of  creating. 

CXLI 

More  than  fifteen  hundred  pictures 
should  be  removed  from  the  Louvre. 

CXLII 

The  pictures  of  the  masters  at  the 
Louvre  should  be  spaced  ; they  would 
be  more  respected  and  admired. 

CXLIII 

When  one  executes  painting  of  a 


ON  PAINTING 


31 


lofty  order,  one  may  not  be  a master, 
but  one  is  meritorious. 

CXLIV 

A finger  of  the  portrait  of  Anne 
Boleyn,  by  Holbein,  is  as  forcible  as 
a whole  portrait  by  Franz  Hals. 

CXLV 

Rubens  existing,  one  could,  per- 
haps, more  easily  do  without  the 
great  Vandyke  than  a minor  Dutch 
master. 

CXLVI 

A fine  picture,  the  effect  of  which 
is  admired  at  a distance,  ought  equally 
to  bear  analysis  when  looked  at  near 
by. 

CXLVII 

There  are  pictures  full  of  talent, 
the  subject  and  the  quality  of  which 
forbid  their  entrance  into  drawing- 
rooms, and  which  ought  to  remain  in 
the  ante-room. 


32 


IMPRESSIONS 


CXLVIII 

In  painting,  it  is  well  to  identify 
one’s  self  with  the  seasons.  It  is  a 
mistake  to  depict  a winter  subject  in 
summer. 

CXLIX 

Nothing  does  more  injustice  to  a 
good  picture  than  bad  neighbors. 

CL 

“ I have  never  seen  nature  thus,” 
say  certain  Philistines  before  a pict- 
ure. Nothing  is  wanted  but  that 
they  should  view  it  with  the  intelli- 
gence of  the  artist  ! One  should 
learn  to  see,  as  in  music  one  learns  to 
hear. 

CLI 

Of  what  use  is  it  for  a young  artist 
to  wish  to  exhibit  too  soon  and  in 
spite  of  everything  ! 

CLII 

What  would  the  public  have  said 


ON  PAINTING 


33 


if,  in  the  reign  of  Louis  Philippe,  the 
prediction  had  been  made  that  fifty 
years  later  a statue  would  be  raised 
to  Delacroix,  and  that  Delaroche 
would  scarcely  be  remembered  ? 

CLIII 

At  the  Salon,  the  first  pictures  are 
always  more  favorably  judged  than 
the  last. 

CUV 

In  the  composition  of  a competent 
jury  it  is  not  necessary  that  it  should 
consist  of  forty  members  ; three  or 
five  would  be  sufficient. 

CLV 

The  great  masters  are  more  won- 
derful at  their  homes  than  at  the 
Louvre,  because  in  looking  at  them 
at  home  one  embraces  the  country  in 
which  they  were  born. 

CLVI 

If  a painter  represents  Rembrandt 


34 


IM  PRESSIONS 


in  his  studio  he  is  dominated  by  Rem- 
brandt ; in  spite  of  himself  he  seeks 
for  effects  of  light  and  shade;  if  he 
represents  Veronese  he  is  possessed  by 
Veronese,  and  will  seek  for  open-air 
effects.  One  enters  involuntarily  into 
the  temperament  of  the  painter  whom 
one  wishes  to  recall. 

CLVII 

One  should  go  much  to  the  Louvre 
to  study  and  interpret  the  masters, 
but  never  to  try  to  imitate  them. 

CLVIII 

Quentin  Matsys  passed,  they  say, 
twenty  years  in  executing  his  master- 
piece at  the  Brussels  Museum.  Never- 
theless, in  contemplating  this  marvel 
one  does  not  discern  the  least  lassi- 
tude, the  slightest  exhaustion. 

CLIX 

They  say  “ The  opinion  of  a painter 
is  always  tainted  with  bias  ; he  only 


ON  PAINTING 


35 


judges  by  his  preferences.”  A con- 
naisseur who  loves  Ingres  has  also  his 
bias  against  Delacroix,  and  vice  versa . 

CLX 

Since  the  war  of  1870,  more  soldiers 
have  been  painted  than  ever. 

CLXI 

As  a general  thing,  one  must  be 
dead  in  order  to  sell  at  a high  figure. 

CLXII 

It  is  to  the  English  painters  that 
the  French  school  is  indebted  for  the 
artistic  evolution  of  1830. 

CLXIII 

We  are  passing  through  an  epoch 
in  prey  to  such  pictorial  monstrosities, 
that  people  will  come,  by  reaction,  to 
do  justice  to  works  of  fine  execution. 

CLXIV 

The  masters  of  the  eighteenth  cent- 


t 


36  IMPRESSIONS 


ury  are  especially  interesting  because 
they  were  thoroughly  inspired  by  the 
manners  of  their  epoch  and  interpreted 
them  with  spirit. 

CLXV 

At  the  Salon  the  public  concerns 
itself  almost  exclusively  with  the  sub- 
ject; the  true  art  of  the  painter  be- 
comes accessory. 

CLXVI 

The  painter  is,  in  the  world  of  art, 
the  most  petted  and  the  most  re- 
warded, and  it  is  he  who  complains 
the  most. 

CLXVII 

A painter  is  wrong  to  abandon  the 
country  in  which  he  was  born  and 
passed  his  youth. 

CLXVIII 

A man  should  have  the  courage 
not  to  allow  the  successes  of  the 
Salon,  the  opinion  of  the  press  or  the 


ON  PAINTING 


3 7 


contingency  of  recompenses  to  occupy 
his  mind,  and  should  be  chiefly  con- 
cerned with  living  up  to  his  own  ideal. 

CLXIX 

There  is  no  coloring  without  reflec- 
tions. 

CLXX 

There  are  masters  who  have  a right 
to  our  admiration,  but  who  are  no 
longer  of  our  time. 

CLXXI 

How  many  men  of  great  talent 
could  no  longer  do  at  our  epoch  what 
they  did  at  their  own  ! 

CLXXII 

Do  not  exert  yourself  to  make  too 
perfect  studies  from  nature.  A study 
should  be  an  exercise  without  preten- 
sion. 

CLXXIII 

A painter  ought  sometimes  to  con- 
sult a sculptor,  and  vice  versa . 


38 


IMPRESSIONS 


CLXXIV 

One  usually  begins  a picture  with 
spirit,  but  often  finishes  it  with  a cer- 
tain melancholy. 

CLXXV 

A master  sometimes  delivers,  with- 
out being  satisfied  with  it,  a picture 
to  which  he  becomes  reconciled  upon 
seeing  it  again  some  years  later. 

CLXXVI 

There  always  remains  something  to 
do  in  a picture  for  the  artist  who  is 
not  easily  satisfied. 


CLXXVII 

It  is,  however,  an  art  not  to  retouch 
what  has  come  at  one  stroke. 

CLXXVIII 

An  artist  can  never  sufficiently 
search  into  the  secrets  of  his  art,  but 


ON  PAINTING 


39 


he  should  never  lose  his  native  sim- 
plicity. 

CLXXIX 

There  is  no  artist’s  studio,  even  a 
mediocre  one,  in  which  a study  may 
not  be  found  superior  to  his  finished 
works. 

CLXXX 

Everything  here  below  is  the  pro- 
duct of  study.  One  does  not  play 
the  piano  except  by  exerting  one’s 
self  to  play  scales,  just  as  one  does 
not  become  an  accomplished  fencer 
until  one  has  used  the  plastron  for  a 
long  time.  It  would  be  truly  strange 
if,  by  exception,  the  art  of  painting 
did  not  require  study. 

CLXXXI 

The  opinion  of  inexperienced  youth 
is  often  more  judicious  than  that  of  a 
painter  who  has  succeeded.  Youth 
has  the  sentiment  of  the  present  and 
the  presentiment  of  the  morrow  ; the 


40 


IMPRESSIONS 


artist  who  has  succeeded  has  a predis- 
position to  stiffen  himself  in  the  for- 
mulas of  the  previous  day,  which  have 
brought  him  his  reputation. 

CLXXXII 

One  sees  to-day  too  many  artists 
attempt  all  branches  of  painting  with 
deplorable  lack  of  personal  feeling. 
Rubens  or  Rembrandt,  when  they 
painted  genre  or  landscape,  placed  on 
these  productions  the  genius  mark  of 
their  signature.  The  painters  of  to- 
day, on  the  contrary,  alter  their  work- 
manship in  changing  their  kind  of 
painting. 

CLXXXIII 

I do  not  like  a model  who  never 
moves. 

CLXXXIV 

One  paints  dry  and  hard  at  the 
outset;  suppleness  only  shows  itself 
when  the  artist  is  in  full  possession  of 
his  art. 

-V- 


ON  PAINTING 


41 


CLXXXV 

To  paint  a good  portrait,  it  is  in- 
dispensable to  enter  into  the  spirit 
and  the  character  of  the  model,  and 
to  compel  one’s  self  to  depict  him 
not  only  by  exactly  reproducing  his 
features,  but  more  particularly  by  in- 
terpreting his  mind. 

CLXXXVI 

One  ought  not  to  be  forced  to  paint 
from  the  first  of  January  to  the  thirty- 
first  of  December.  There  is  some- 
thing sad,  however,  in  finding  dust  on 
one’s  palette  after  an  absence. 

CLXXXVII 

It  is  puerile  to  say,  “ I have  found  a 
fine  subject  for  the  next  Salon.” 

CLXXXVIII 

The  broad  noonday  sun  discolors  ; 
the  indefinite  and  mysterious  hours 
of  dawn  and  twilight  are  preferable 
for  the  painter. 


42 


IMPRESSIONS 


CLXXXIX 

The  painter  who  lives  on  stored-up 
memories  of  travel  is  an  artificial 
artist  who  has  only  retrospective 
emotions. 

cxc 

The  virgin  forests  in  which  we  have 
not  lived  have  not  the  eloquence  of 
a well-known  and  familiar  grove. 

CXCI 

Put  three  landscape  painters  before 
a landscape  and  each  will  interpret  it 
according  to  his  temperament  ; never- 
theless it  is  the  same  landscape. 
Where,  then,  is  found  what  it  is  now 
agreed  to  call  the  tone  of  nature  ? 

CXCII 

Painting  is  nature  seen  through  the 
prism  of  an  emotion. 

CXCIII 

The  most  beautiful  odalisque, 


ON  PAINTING 


43 


adorned  with  jewels,  will  never  move 
me  as  much  as  the  women  of  the  coun- 
try in  which  I was  born  ; I therefore 
prefer  painting  the  latter  to  the 
former. 

CXCIV 

Painters  are  to  be  pitied  who  have 
not  deigned  or  have  not  known  how 
to  sing  of  woman  and  child. 

CXCV 

To  make  a pupil  paint  many  flowers 
is  excellent  instruction. 

CXCVI 

The  student  should  be  forbidden  to 
draw  from  memory  or  from  chic.  He 
ought  always  to  work  de  visu. 

CXCVII 

People  have  a sad  tendency  to  run 
after  the  qualities  of  their  neighbors 
and  to  neglect  those  with  which  they 
themselves  are  endowed. 


44 


IMPRESSIONS 


CXCVIII 

One  should  not  systematically  pre- 
scribe to  students  historical,  mytho- 
logical or  Biblical  subjects  ; it  is  better 
that  they  should  interpret  subjects 
bearing  upon  familiar,  every-day  life. 

CXCIX 

Ingres  said  : “ Drawing  is  the  prob- 
ity of  painting.”  He  might  have 
added  that  color  is  the  ennobling 
of  it. 

CC 

I like,  above  all,  in  all  the  arts,  the 
gifts  of  nature  ; they  surpass  the  ef- 
forts of  academic  drudges. 

CCI 

The  man  of  genius  is  he  who  has 
received  a gift  which  labor  has  logic- 
ally developed  and  balanced. 

CCII 

Many  great  painters  are  hurtful  to 


ON  PAINTING 


45 


youth.  One  must  have  reached  a cer- 
tain age  in  order  to  “ embrace  ” them 
without  danger. 

CCIII 

Comfort  has  been  injurious  to  art. 

CCIV 

The  execution  of  a fine  painting  is 
agreeable  to  the  touch. 

CCV 

A true  painter  is  a thinker  withal. 

CCVI 

At  a certain  age,  a painter  should 
no  longer  be  afraid  of  trembling. 

CCVII 

A student  should  draw  everything 
that  presents  itself  to  his  eyes.  One 
must  sow  in  order  to  reap. 

CCVIII 

Certain  Dutch  masters  appear  to 


46 


IMPRESSIONS 


have  painted  with  small  pounded 
stones. 


CCIX 

It  is  easier  to  do  a head  in  several 
hours  than  in  several  days. 

ccx 

To  hunt  with  an  important  air  for 
the  signature  of  a picture,  in  order  to 
appear  to  be  a connaisseur,  is  already 
an  avowal  of  artistic  ignorance. 

CCXI 

If  the  right  hand  becomes  too  skil- 
ful, one  should  make  use  of  the  left. 
The  brain  ought  not  to  allow  itself  to 
be  dominated  by  the  dexterity  of  the 
hand. 


CCXII 

It  is  abnormal  to  paint  a violent 
movement — a man  running,  for  in- 
stance. Impressionable  people,  at 
the  end  of  a certain  time,  would  be 


ON  PAINTING 


4 7 


tempted  to  say  to  him  : “ Do  sit 
down  ! ” 

CCXIII 

The  masters  have  not  always  pro- 
duced masterpieces.  Happy  he  who, 
in  our  day,  shall  be  able  to  leave  be- 
hind him  a fine  bit  of  painting  ! 

CCXIV 

Charlet’s  determined  First  Empire 
soldiers  disappeared  with  the  epic  of 
which  they  were  the  heroes.  The 
soldier  of  to-day  serves  his  time  with- 
out convictions,  thinking  only  of  his 
discharge.  It  is,  therefore,  no  longer 
a type,  and  yet  we  have  now  more 
painters  of  soldiers  than  in  the  time 
of  Charlet. 


CCXV 

Although  France,  artistically,  leads 
the  world  to-day,  the  Frenchman  is 
nevertheless  more  a stylist  than  truly 
pictorial. 


48 


IMPRESSIONS 


CCXVI 

The  public  willingly  confounds 
romance  with  true  artistic  poetry. 

CCXVII 

The  public  is  interested  in  costume 
subjects,  as  it  is  enamored  of  the 
society  disguises  of  a masked  ball. 

CCXVIII 

Oil  painting  is  far  above  water  color 
and  pastel  ; time  destroys  these  last 
and  ennobles  the  first. 

CCXIX 

One  should  distrust  charcoal.  It 
is  a flatterer  which  is  satisfied  cheaply  ; 
the  pencil  is  more  exacting. 

ccxx 

The  born  painter  never  believes 
that  he  has  succeeded  ; he  is  con- 
stantly seeking  to  enlarge  and  elevate 
his  art,  even  above  his  strength  ; 


ON  PAINTING 


49 


this  is,  besides,  for  an  artist,  the  only 
means  of  not  weakening  at  a certain 
age. 

CCXXI 

Studios  that  are  too  small  produce 
petty  work. 


CCXXII 

The  painter  contemplating  nature 
should  depict  it  so  as  to  preserve  the 
flavor  of  his  first  impression. 

CCXXIII 

A student  should  avoid  beautifying 
his  model  ; he  ought  rather  to  ex- 
aggerate it  in  order  not  to  detract 
from  its  character. 

CCXXIV 

A picture  should  not  be  of  such 
small  dimensions  as  to  lead  us  to 
suppose  that  we  are  becoming  far- 
sighted. 


50 


IMPRESSIONS 


ccxxv 

Reputations  are  easy  to  acquire; 
what  is  difficult  is  to  render  them 
lasting. 


CCXXVI 

Too  good  sight  is  often  a fatal  gift 
to  a painter,  because  the  retina  is 
maddened  by  seeing  too  many  things 
in  detail. 

CCXXVII 

The  Americans  have  some  nine- 
teenth century  masterpieces;  they 
have,  it  is  said,  the  love  of  Japanese 
art  ; if  they  come  to  have  a Louvre, 
with  their  character,  their  inventive 
spirit  in  everything,  old  Europe  is 
probably  destined  to  one  day  accept 
an  artistic  renovation  from  young 
America. 


CCXXVIII 

I am  a partisan  of  good  picture 
dealers.  It  is  they  who  create  con- 


ON  PAINTING 


51 


naisseurs,  who  raise  our  prices,  who 
uphold  and  set  off  our  qualities  in  the 
eyes  of  the  ignorant,  and  who  save  us 
from  having  to  sing  our  own  praises. 

CCXXIX 

One  cannot,  living  at  Paris,  paint 
flesh  like  Rubens  ; each  country  gives 
an  individual  charm  to  woman. 

ccxxx 

Grace  does  not  exist  without 
strength. 

CCXXXI 

We  are  at  an  epoch  in  which  the 
need  of  attaining  originality  is  so 
strongly  felt  that  Rome  causes  us 
more  fear  than  London. 

CCXXXII 

In  the  future,  a German  will  be 
prouder  of  the  genius  of  Albert  Dürer 
than  of  that  of  the  great  Frederick. 


52 


IMPRESSIONS 


CCXXXIII 

A great  painter  is  of  all  periods  ; a 
great  politician  belongs  most  fre- 
quently only  to  his  epoch. 

CCXXXIV 

It  is  more  uncommon  to  find  a 
painter  than  a learned  man. 

ccxxxv 

If  neurosis  exists,  it  is  an  evil 
which  the  painter  must  needs  experi- 
ence. 

CCXXXVI 

If  the  costume  of  the  men  of  our 
time  be  not  beautiful,  it  is  not  the 
fault  of  the  painter. 

CCXXXVII 

It  is  easier  to  find  a man  of  talent 
than  a man  of  elevated  taste. 

CCXXXVIII 

All  painting  should  be  able  to  bear 
close  inspection. 


ON  PAINTING 


53 


CCXXXIX 

A professor  may  teach  principles, 
but  he  ought  especially  to  discover 
and  develop  the  aptitudes  of  the 
student. 


CCXL 

The  public,  in  the  presence  of  the 
sea,  understands  less  readily  the  re- 
served charms  of  the  morning  than 
the  apotheoses  of  a setting  sun. 

CCXLI 

The  contemplation  of  the  works  of 
a painter  of  recognized  talent  causes 
less  emotion  than  that  of  an  artist 
less  appreciated  but  nevertheless  of 
greater  taste. 

CCXLII 

Photography  gives  the  common- 
place resemblance  that  everybody  can 
see  ; the  painter  alone  penetrates  into 
the  intimacy  of  the  model  and  de- 
tects the  radiance  of  the  physiognomy. 


54 


IMPRESSIONS 


CCXLIII 

People  do  not  trouble  themselves 
enough  in  our  day  about  the  work- 
manship, the  trade,  painting  for  paint- 
ing’s sake  ; but  they  will  be  forced 
to  return  to  it,  and  only  those  who 
possess  this  master  quality  will  be 
certain  of  immortality. 

CCXLIV 

The  frivolous  public  laughed  at  a 
painter  who  had  given  to  his  work 
the  abstract  title  of  “Symphony  in 
White”;  the  painter  had,  neverthe- 
less, performed  more  technically  an 
act  of  painting  than  those  who  have 
produced  so  many  historical  subjects. 

CCXLV 

It  is  only  after  having  executed 
numerous  studies  from  nature  that 
one  may  permit  himself  to  paint  an 
impression  from  her;  one  ends  by 
wearying  of  a study,  never  of  an  im- 
pression. 


ON  PAINTING 


55 


CCXLVI 

The  old  masters  imbibed  from  child- 
hood all  the  knowledge  of  their 
teachers  ; they  had  not,  like  us,  to 
discover  for  themselves  the  secrets  of 
their  art  ; this  is  why  they  were  able, 
in  full  maturity,  to  add  their  indi- 
vidual qualities  to  their  acquired 
ideas. 

CCXLVII 

To  cause  the  picture  of  a master  to 
be  retouched  is  a crime  that  the  law 
ought  to  punish  severely. 

CCXLVIII 

The  art  of  painting  should  not  be 
too  much  encouraged  ; rather  the  re- 
verse. 

CCXLIX 

It  is  not  always  the  talent  of  the 
master  which  causes  pupils  to  flock 
to  his  studio  ; it  is  often  the  good 
luck  he  has  had  to  meet  among  them 
a specially  endowed  nature. 


56 


IMPRESSIONS 


CCL 

One  weeps  reading  a book  or  list- 
ening to  music  ; one  never  weeps 
before  a picture,  before  sculpture. 

CCLI 

To  those  who  say  that  Japanese 
art  has  a formula,  one  may  reply  that 
Greek  art  had  also  its  own. 

CCLII 

Nothing  is  forgiven  in  a picture 
with  a single  figure  ; many  things  are 
excused  in  a picture  with  several 
figures. 

CCLIII 

The  masters  of  the  grand  epochs 
have  often  more  faults  than  those  of 
the  decadences. 


CCLIV 

If  the  public  were  allowed  to  enter 
the  Salon  before  the  artists,  what 
comical  estimates  would  be  obtained  ! 


ON  PAINTING 


5 7 


CCLV 

The  bids  at  public  sales  are  what 
rank  a painter  commercially.  This 
is  sometimes  very  unjust. 

CCLVI 

Painting  is  not  made  for  exhibi- 
tions. Delicate  pictures  are  annihi- 
lated at  the  Salon  ; loud  and  vulgar 
ones  hold  their  own  better. 

CCLVII 

Once  a member  of  the  Institute, 
the  painter  lives  to  be  old,  because, 
at  any  rate,  he  remains  somebody  for 
the  public. 

CCLVI  1 1 

There  are  painters  who  paint  only 
a single  picture  every  year  for  the 
Salon  ; others  paint  thirty  during 
their  year,  and  at  the  most  can  only 
exhibit  three  of  them.  This  is  unjust. 


58 


IMPRESSIONS 


CCLIX 

How  many  pictures  do  well  in  an 
exhibition  and  ill  in  a drawing-room, 
and  vice  versa  ! 


CCLX 

The  art  of  painting  has  not  for  its, 
mission  to  lead  on  to  fortune. 

CCLXI 

The  public  supports,  a mediocre 
painter  as  long  as  he  is  young  ; once 
grown  old,  it  abandons  him  to  his  sad 
fate. 

CCLXII 

What  a mistake  to  have  thought 
of  forming  a museum  of  copies  of 
the  masterpieces  of  foreign  museums! 
Fine  photographs  give  us  a far  more 
just  impression  of  them. 

CCLXIII 

Fathers  who  oblige  their  sons  to 
become  painters,  as  one  becomes  a 


ON  PAINTING 


59 


grocer,  are  to-day  honored.  Fifty 
years  ago  it  was  quite  the  contrary. 
They  will  come  back  to  it. 

CCLXIV 

An  alteration  in  a picture  seems 
always  to  do  good. 

CCLXV 

One  should  not  give,  in  a picture, 
an  accessory  useless  to  the  composi- 
tion of  the  subject  that  one  is  treating. 

CCLXVI 

One  may,  by  instinct  alone,  become 
a painter  of  worth,  but  one  only  per- 
forms an  act  of  genius  in  giving  proof 
of  great  good  sense. 

CCLXVII 

The  sincere  approbation  of  his  pro- 
fessional comrades  is,  for  the  painter, 
the  most  flattering  of  recompenses. 


6o 


IMPRESSIONS 


CCLXVIII 

Nothing  can  equal  the  happiness 
that  a painter  feels  when,  after  a day’s 
work,  he  is  satisfied  with  the  task  ac- 
complished. But,  in  the  contrary  case, 
what  despair  he  experiences  ! 


CCLXIX 

A great  reputation  is  difficult  to 
preserve  if  one  has  left  few  works  be- 
hind him. 


CCLXX 

To  live  to  be  very  old,  and  to  pre- 
serve until  the  end  of  one’s  days  a 
great  reputation  in  the  art  of  painting, 
seems  to  me  an  almost  impossible 
thing. 


CCLXXI 

If  one  laments  the  premature  death 
of  a painter,  one  should  also  some- 
times mourn  for  him  who,  for  his  art, 
lives  to  be  too  old. 


ON  PAINTING 


6l 


CCLXXII 

A man  should  not  paint  continually 
in  his  studio. 

CCLXXIII 

The  magnifying  glass  has  been 
laughed  at  ; fine  painting  ought  to  be 
able  to  withstand  it. 

CCLXXIV 

The  Italian  masters,  in  spite  of  the 
brilliancy  of  their  qualities,  do  not 
intoxicate  us  so  far  as  to  prevent  our 
criticising  form  and  drawing  in  them. 
The  color  of  the  Dutch  masters,  on 
the  contrary,  is  so  magical  that  it 
subjugates  us  and  does  not  leave  us 
the  ability  to  trouble  ourselves  as  to 
form  and  drawing. 

CCLXXV 

Painters  ought  to  have  some  knowl- 
edge of  chemistry.  The  old  masters 
knew  on  what  and  with  what  they 
painted — hence  the  good  quality  and 


62 


I M PRESSIONS 


the  fine  preservation  of  their  works. 
In  our  day,  people  paint  with  any- 
thing. The  old  masters  painted  for 
posterity  ; we  paint  only  for  the 
present. 

CCLXXVI 

It  is  better  to  enlarge  than  to  di- 
minish an  accessory  on  the  first  plane. 

CCLXXVII 

If  a Paris  Salon  could  be  exhibited 
abroad,  as  a whole,  it  would  have  quite 
another  aspect  and  would  be  judged 
quite  differently.  What  a disquieting 
and  capricious  thing  is  painting  ! 

CCLXXVIII 

One  generally  goes  to  the  Salon  to 
see  three  or  four  conspicuous  names 
and  to  laugh  at  several  eccentrics. 

CCLXXIX 

If  there  were  fewer  pictures  at  the 
Salon,  people  would  not  be  so  eager 


ON  PAINTING 


63 


to  leave  the  galleries  to  go  and  look 
at  the  sculpture  in  the  garden,  while 
smoking  a cigarette. 

CCLXXX 

In  France,  in  our  day,  sculpture  is 
perhaps  superior  to  painting. 

CCLXXXI 

Why  have  those  persons  who  im- 
agine they  invented  impressionism 
nearly  all  the  same  impression  before 
nature  ? It  seems  to  me  that  it 
should  be  the  contrary. 

CCLXXXII 

Art  is  jealous  ; it  does  not  forgive 
even  a moment  of  forgetfulness. 

CCLXXXIII 

Certain  painters,  entering  their  stu- 
dios after  a visit  to  the  Louvre,  say 
to  themselves  : “ Would  my  painting 
hold  by  the  side  of  such-and-such  a 


64 


IMPRESSIONS 


master  ?”  They  forget  that  these 
great  masters  have  been  worked  upon 
by  time  and  that  time  has  not  yet 
been  able  to  occupy  itself  with  them. 

CCLXXXIV 

It  is  a crime  to  cause  Notre  Dame 
de  Paris  to  be  scraped  ; it  is  a kind- 
ness to  have  Notre  Dame  de  Lorette 
cleansed.  This  proves  that  master- 
pieces should  not  be  repaired  and 
that  decidedly  time  is  a great  master. 

CCLXXXV 

There  are  painters  possessed  by 
the  memory  of  the  masterpieces 
which  they  have  seen  in  the  mu- 
seums. If  a model  presents  himself 
to  them,  they  say  : “ Look,  he  re- 
minds me  of  a head  by  Holbein  that 
I saw  at  Dresden  !”  or  “ He  reminds 
me  of  a head  by  Rembrandt  that  I 
saw  at  Amsterdam,”  and  their  imag- 
ination goes  from  Dresden  to  Am- 
sterdam, without  being  able  to  trans- 


ON  PAINTING 


65 


late  the  suggestions  of  their  own 
brain. 


CCLXXXVI 

So  many  painters  stop  where  diffi- 
culty begins  ! 

CCLXXXVII 

Instead  of  expending  all  the  heat 
of  one’s  temperament  on  the  first 
draught  of  a picture,  one  should  hus- 
band it  in  such  a manner  as  to  pre- 
serve the  same  ardor  until  the  last 
stroke  of  the  brush. 

CCLXXXVIII 

It  is  always  dangerous  to  paint  a 
portrait  for  nothing,  for  the  person 
who  has  sat  for  it  never  defends  it 
when  it  is  criticised. 

CCLXXXIX 

Painting  executed  in  the  open  air 
gains  in  the  studio. 


66 


IMPRESSIONS 


CCXC 

Slapdash  painting  may  charm  at 
first  sight,  but  the  charm  does  not 
last. 


CCXCI 

The  execution  should  be  adequate 
to  the  subject  treated. 

CCXCII 

The  virtuoso  should  not  be  con- 
founded with  the  trickster. 

CCXCIII 

A great  painter  is  ordinarily  better 
qualified  than  a great  writer,  a great 
musician  or  a great  sculptor  to  com- 
prehend the  other  arts. 

CCXCIV 

The  Flemings  and  the  Dutch  are 
the  first  painters  of  the  world. 


ON  PAINTING 


67 


ccxcv 

A too  short  arm  now  and  then  by 
Rembrandt  is  nevertheless  “alive”; 
the  arm  of  an  academic  drudge,  exe- 
cuted in  exact  proportions,  remains 
inert. 

CCXCVI 

Rubens  has  often  been  hurtful  to 
the  Flemish  school,  and  Van  Eyck 
has  never  been  other  than  its  bene- 
factor. 


CCXCVII 

There  are  great  geniuses  in  painting 
who  have  been  fatal  to  youth. 


CCXCVIII 

There  are  painters  who  have  been 
useful  to  others  and  who  are  worth 
very  little  to  themselves. 

CCXCIX 

Most  picture  subjects  are  rather  in 


68 


IMPRESSIONS 


the  province  of  illustrated  journals 
than  in  that  of  painting. 

CCC 

Painting  which  produces  an  illusion 
of  reality  is  an  artistic  lie. 

CCCI 

One  should  sometimes  place  his 
picture  in  the  penumbra  in  order  to 
properly  judge  if  it  preserves  its  har- 
mony. 


CCCII 

What  was  called  a “ repoussoir  ”* 
was  an  error  with  certain  old  masters. 

CCCIII 

Each  country  should  have  its  pic- 
torial stamp;  each  country  has  its 

* A vigorous  tone,  setting  off  the  light  and 
luminous  parts  cf  a picture. 


ON  PAINTING 


69 


dance  : Germany  the  waltz,  Spain  the 
bolero,  England  the  jig,  etc. 

CCCIV 

In  a bovine  exhibition,  be  sure  that 
the  public  will  pause  by  preference 
before  the  five-footed  ox. 

CCCV 

If  the  old  masters,  of  no  matter 
what  school,  could  return  to  earth,  be 
assured  that  they  would  not  hesitate 
to  cause  not  a few  of  their  works  to 
disappear. 

CCCVI 

The  religion  of  art  abandons  most 
often  the  painter  too  much  flattered, 
too  much  petted,  too  happy. 

CCCVII 

To  make  to  live — that  is  the  great 
difficulty  of  painting  and  its  aim. 


70  IMPRESSIONS  ON  PAINTING 


CCCVIII 


If  the  perpendicular  line  C A leads 
to  truth,  the  oblique  line 
C E,  starting  from  the  same  j 
point,  but  deviating,  moves  % 

farther  away  from  truth  the 
more  it  is  prolonged.  The 
public  has  but  little  regard 
for  the  painter  who  has 
reached  the  point  B of  the 
perpendicular,  which  leads  to 
the  true  and  the  beautiful, 
and  exaggerates  the  worth 
of  him  who  has  reached  the 
letter  D on  the  oblique  line  ; 
in  its  opinion  he  has  mounted 
higher;  the  public  does  not 
perceive  that  he  moves  far- 
ther away  from  the  true  and  c 
the  beautiful,  the  higher 
he  mounts  on  the  line  of  the  false. 


INDEX 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX 


Note. — The  numbers  indicate  the  page. 

Academic  Figure,  Drawings  After,  24. 
Accessories,  59,  62. 

Air,  Open,  9,  65. 

Age  of  Painting,  8,  19,  63. 

Age  of  the  Painter,  45,  60. 

America,  50. 

Animals,  8. 

Art,  17,  27,  63. 

Art  Criticism,  13,  25. 

Art,  Decorative,  29. 

Artists,  Doubted,  18. 

Bias,  34. 

Blonde,  5,  15. 

Brunette,  5,  15. 

Century,  Eighteenth,  35. 

Charcoal,  48. 


7 4 


INDEX 


Chardin,  6. 

Charlet,  47. 

Chemistry,  Knowledge  of,  6i. 

Child,  The,  43. 

Comfort,  45. 

Color  and  Colorists,  2,  3,  20,  37,  44,  61. 
Commission,  23. 

Completion  of  a Picture,  38,  39. 
Connaisseurs,  18. 

Costumes,  5,  10,  48,  52. 

Courbet,  9. 

Dawn,  41. 

Delacroix,  28,  32. 

Delaroche,  32. 

Dexterity,  11,  46. 

Difficulty  of  Painting,  69. 
Donatello,  6. 

Draught,  First,  65. 

Drawing  and  Draughtsmen,  2,  27, 43,44, 

45- 

Dress  of  a Picture,  13. 

Durer,  Albert,  51. 

Estimates,  Public,  of  the,  56,  57. 
Execution,  3,  13,  66. 


INDEX 


75 


Exhibitions,  12,  27,  32,  36,  57,  58,  62, 
69. 

Face,  Human,  17. 

False,  The,  70. 

Fashion,  17. 

Figures  of  a Past  Time,  8. 

Flowers,  ii,  43. 

Foreshortening,  28. 

Genius,  16,  44,  59,  67. 

Géricault,  9,  14. 

Germans,  51. 

Gioconda,  La,  16. 

Grace,  51. 

Hals,  Franz,  31. 

Hand,  The  Left,  46. 

Head,  The,  46. 

Holbein,  31. 

Impersonality,  40,  43. 

Impressionism,  63. 

Independence,  23. 

Ingres,  44. 

Instinct,  59. 


76 


INDEX 


Institute,  57. 

Japanese,  The,  and  Japanese  Art, 
21,  22,  50,  56. 

Jury,  28,  33. 

Lebrun,  6. 

Light,  14,  27. 

London,  51. 

Louvre,  7,  29,  30,  34. 

Magnifying  Glass,  61. 

Masters,  Great,  33,  44,  47,  52,  56. 
Masters,  Early,  7,  1 5. 

Mastery,  30. 

Masterpieces,  16,  25,  47,  64. 

Matsys,  34. 

Mediocrity,  58. 

Memories,  42,  43. 

Michael  Angelo,  6. 

Millet,  28. 

Models,  24,  41,  49. 

Modernity,  5,  24. 

Moon,  The,  21. 

Movement,  Violent,  28,  46. 

Museum,  Copies  of,  58. 


INDEX 


77 


Nature,  ii,  16,  22,  37,  42,  49,  54. 
Neighborhood,  32. 

Neurosis,  52. 

Nude,  The,  16. 

Originality,  51. 

Outset,  28,  40. 

Painting,  42. 

Painting,  Easel,  8. 

Painting,  Figure,  9,  56. 

Painting,  Historical,  21. 

Painting,  Landscape,  9,  42. 

Painting,  Military,  35,  47. 

Painting,  Oil,  48. 

Painting,  Religious,  20. 

Painting,  Light  and  Luminous,  18. 
Paint  One’s  Time,  One’s  Country,  i,  4, 
35»  42,  51- 

Painters,  Old,  55,  69. 

Painters,  Tricky,  6,  66. 

Painters,  Historians  as,  9. 

Painters,  Women,  30. 

Palette,  29. 

Pastel,  48. 


78 


INDEX 


Pencil,  48. 

Penumbra,  68. 

Personality,  3,  6. 

Perspective,  Specialist  in,  20. 
Phenomena,  i. 

Photography,  23,  53. 

Picture  Dealers,  50. 
Portraits,  12,  24,  26,  41,  53,  65. 
Press,  The,  36. 

Privileges  of  Painters,  36. 
Professors,  53. 

Qualities  of  Painting,  19. 

Reality,  Illusion  of,  68. 
Recompenses,  25,  36. 

Religion  of  Art,  69. 
Rembrandt,  33,  40,  67. 
Repoussoir,  68. 

Reputation,  50,  60. 
Retouching,  38,  55. 

Rome,  51. 

Rousseau,  Th.,  28. 

Rubens,  31,  40,  67. 

Rude,  6. 


INDEX 


79 


Sales,  Public,  57. 

Satisfaction  with  One’s  Self,  14,  36, 60. 
School,  The  English,  35. 

School,  The  Dutch,  4,  27,  31,  45,  61,  66. 
School,  The  Flemish,  27,  66. 

School,  The  Italian,  61. 

Sculptors,  37,  62,  63. 

Sight,  The,  50. 

Signature  of  a Picture,  46. 

Simplicity,  25,  38. 

Sincerity,  26. 

Smallness  of  Pictures,  49. 

Smile,  14. 

Statues  Raised  to  Painters,  7. 

Still  Life,  17. 

Studios,  49,  61. 

Studies,  37,  39. 

Subjects  of  Pictures,  4,  14,  31,  36,  41, 
44,  48,  67. 

Sun,  The,  21,  41. 

Success,  3,  36. 

Talent,  29,  52. 

Taste,  52. 

Tears,  14. 


8o 


INDEX 


Touch,  The,  in  Painting,  45. 
Twilight,  41. 

Vandyke,  31. 

Van  Eyck,  67. 

Veronese,  33. 

Versailles,  Museum  of,  20. 
Victory,  The,  of  Samothrace,  6. 
Vigor,  19. 

Virgin,  The,  and  Infant  Jesus,  24. 
Virtuoso,  66. 

Water  Color,  48. 

Woman,  43. 

Workmanship,  54. 

Youth,  39. 


; 


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